FIRM VIDEOS
What Makes a Valid Personal Injury Claim?
A valid personal injury claim or really a personal injury claim where we feel that we can get somebody compensation has two main elements. The first element is liability and the second element are damages. And then there’s something in between that connects them. So with liability, the question really is, you know, is our client responsible at all for the injuries that he or she sustained, right? Obviously, in a perfect world, we want our client and we fight for our clients to be held 0% responsible. In New York State, we have a pure comparative negligence rule, which means if our client is partially responsible, it really just means that their overall compensation may be lowered by the percentage at which they’re held to be at fault. But again, we fight really hard to ensure that our clients have 0% responsibility or liability. The second part are damages. What kind of injuries has this person suffered? Are there economic damages, meaning loss of income or out-of-pocket expenses both past and in the future? Is there pain and suffering, obviously both past and in the future? You know, what does the prognosis look like for this person? In some instances, how has this affected their family members? Those are the two main elements and then in the middle is what’s called causation. Basically meaning, can we prove that the injuries were caused as a result of the other person’s negligence or conduct. And if we have those things all together, that’s essentially what we consider to be a viable personal injury claim.